Help Sally Beat A Rare Infection

This is Sally – our first puppy, and the sweetest fluffball. Sally became very sick in January with a fungal infection called Blastomycosis. The infection presented rare and unusual symptoms, making a diagnosis very challenging. We first took Sally to the vet on Christmas eve because she was limping on her front wrist. Assuming it was a sprain, we limited her activity to rest the injury, but she continued to limp. One day Sally couldn’t get out of her bed. Out of nowhere, she had gone completely lame on the other side as well! X-rays revealed two normal looking wrists – we were all stumped. This kicked off a series of diagnostic tests.

Over the next few weeks our vets ruled out theories like lyme disease and panosteitis, but were no closer to solving the mystery. The scary part was that her wrist bones and cartilage had rapidly started to deteriorate. Subsequent X-rays revealed extreme erosion in her joints at a rate that was nearly unheard of. Her diagnosis was suddenly a race against the clock, and we didn’t even know if the condition could be treated. In mid-January an internal medicine specialist identified the fungal infection. At first it felt like a relief – we had our answer, and this infection was supposedly treatable!

A CT scan revealed that the fungus had moved into her lungs. We could also see that the damage to her wrists was well beyond recovery without surgery. Over the time of just one month, her bones and cartilage were completely destroyed. This put us in a very difficult position. We had already spent $8000 on vet bills. The prognosis was fair-to-good, with treatment for the year costing around $4000, but this did not include any corrective surgery for her joints. We decided that after coming so far, we owed it to Sally to try. The question (and cost) of surgery could wait a couple months.

We finally got lucky! Sally responded positively to the medication, and it is still working. There have been a few hiccups along the way but we are more confident than ever that our pup can get through this.

Sally just had her first joint fusion surgery and she gets a little bit better every day. All in, we expect the total vet expenses to be around $30,000 - not something we ever could have anticipated or planned for. The past 6 months have been emotionally and financially exhausting, but although she has a long road ahead, we still believe that Sally is a puppy worth fighting for. Despite her challenges, she is constantly high spirited and loves to cuddle, meet new friends, and show off her tricks.

Sally turns 1 at the end of May! Please make this her best birthday ever by helping her in any way you can and/or sharing this post. At this point in her recovery, you would be contributing toward ongoing monitoring of the fungal infection, a long list of medications, and surgery for her second wrist.

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For more information on Blastomycosis:

Blasto is a very rare fungal infection that is only found in specific places. Sally picked it up on a trip to Ontario in the summer. It typically lives in the soil and when breathed in can make dogs and humans sick. The incubation period can be up to several months. If you are taking your pup somewhere that this fungus grows, check out this link for more information on what to watch out for:

Blastomycosis in Dogs VCA Canada Animal Hospital

Increased awareness of this infection will hopefully prevent more stories like Sally’s!